1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable assembly, and particularly to a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (serial ATA) interface connector with a low profiled cable connector that provides a relay connection between internal devices of a notebook computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the last decade, portable electronic devices, such as notebook computers have become essential tools for people relied upon facility. As the time goes by, the popularity of these devices has risen as the cost and the sizes of the devices have diminished. Currently, most notebook computers have storage devices called hard disk drives. The hard disk drive is connected to the main printed circuit board (PCB) of the notebook computer by way of an interface, usually a controller card, a cable, and some software protocols. One type of hard disk drive interface used today is an advanced technology attachment (ATA) interface which is a parallel interface whereby multiple bits of data are transmitted per time across the interface simultaneously during each transfer. A parallel interface allows for high throughput, however, as the frequency of the interface is increased, signaling problems and interference between signals become common.
Serial ATA is an interface specification that abandons the parallel concept in favor of a serial interface where only one bit is transferred per time. This allows the interface to operate at higher speed without the problems associated with a parallel interface at higher speed. The serial ATA interface also has some other improvements comparing with the parallel ATA interface, such as low cost, low pin count, and low voltage requirement, and so on. In a word, the serial ATA connector provides a long-term solution for high performance, and easier, more flexible system design.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,591 B1 issued to Chang discloses a serial ATA interface assembly performing high-speed transmission. The serial ATA interface assembly has a serial ATA interface connector comprising a signal section and a power supply section complying with the serial ATA interface pin assignment. The signal section is coupled to a signal cable on one side and terminated to a signal connector on one end for connecting to signals of a main PCB of a computer, while the power supply section is coupled to a power cable on the other side and terminated to at least one power input connector on the other end for supplying direct current power to an connecting device. As mentioned above, the serial ATA interface assembly has expected function of stable high-speed transmission. However, with the miniaturization and dense trend of the computer, especially of the notebook computer, it is desired that the serial ATA interface assembly, which provides a relay connection between the connecting device and the main PCB, could be as small as possible for reducing its occupying space in valuable internal space of the computer, especially reducing its layout space on the main PCB.
Hence, an improved serial ATA interface assembly is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.